WikiLeaks: US found Kakodkar's successor pedantic, impatient

NEW DELHI: US found Anil Kakodkar's replacement Sreekumar Banerjee as the head of India's nuclear programme pedantic and impatient even though he appeared positively inclined towards Washington, says a WikiLeak cable. Banerjee has been heading the Atomic Energy Commission since the retirement of Kakodkar, one of the chief negotiators of the India-US civil nuclear deal.

While describing him as an open and honest person who appeared favourably inclined towards the United States, officials from the consulate in Mumbai said in the cable that Banerjee could also be impatient and pedantic in his outlook. "For example, Banerjee persistently interrupted his fellow scientists, either correcting them, urging them to speed up the process or altogether taking over the presentation made before a visiting delegation from the US,'' says the cable.

The cable also refers to comments made by a retired staff of the Department of Atomic Energy, Ramesh Deshpande, suggesting that Banerjee may not have been the right candidate to replace Kakodkar. Deshpande expressed scepticism about Banerjee's ability to effectively succeed Kakodkar as the head of the country's nuclear energy programme. "According to Deshpande, Banerjee is more of a metallurgist than a nuclear scientist. He said Kakodkar was a workaholic and a micro-manager with a penchant for details who scrutinized every document that passed through his hands,'' says the cable.

According to the cable, "Deshpande claimed that the Indian government was not able to find a suitable successor to Kakodkar due to a lack of candidates of Kakodkar's caliber and experience. The government is therefore considering setting up a Nuclear Energy Committee chaired by Kakodkar to oversee India's ambitious nuclear energy plans, he said.''